Huawei P9 to have multiple variants, dual-camera setup

When flagships are discussed, Huawei is typically left out. The most likely reason is that the company doesn’t consistently release devices for a global audience. Samsung, LG, HTC, and Motorola are all companies that send their flagships throughout the world; however, Huawei shies away from giving huge regions like North America a real flagship to get excited about. The P9, Huawei’s upcoming flagship that missed an expected MWC 2016 launch, could change the company’s direction, but Huawei is probably going to lean on the Honor brand to serve the United States and North America for the short-term. Regardless of Huawei’s decision, today we’re getting an in-depth look at the P9.

Evan Blass, the world’s biggest producer of information and images on unannounced products, has shared both images and specifications of the Huawei P9.

Alleged Huawei P9 shown from the front and back

The source says the P9 should have a 5.2-inch Full HD (1920×1080) display, in-house Kirin 950 octa-core processor, Mali-T880 GPU, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and 3900mAh battery. That Kirin 950 splits into four high-power cores clocked at 2.53GHz and four low-power cores clocked at 1.8GHz based on ARM’s big.LITTLE structure. We definitely consider those specs worthy of the ‘flagship’ label. And, surprisingly, the P9 will use Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow behind Huawei’s EMUI software overlay.

A USB Type-C port and fingerprint scanner were revealed in the leaked images.

What could end up being the standout feature on the P9 is the camera. The phone allegedly has two 12MP cameras with lenses made by Leico, who Huawei just partnered with to develop high-end cameras for mobile devices. Huawei first implemented a dual-camera camera setup in the Honor 6 Plus, and now the company is taking it further.

Like the P8, Huawei’s P9 will probably end up having multiple variants. The handset is expected to be joined by a watered-down P9 Lite, a slightly beefier P9 Max, and a greatly-enhanced premium model. None of those names should be considered possibilities as they’re just placeholders for reference.

The Huawei P9 should be announced and released by the end of the first half of 2016.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Justin is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University where he studied marketing with a focus on digital marketing. He's very talkative and enjoys discussing anything from technology and sports to video games and television. As for Justin's current device rotation, he carries around the Google Pixel and Nexus 9. In the rare case that his phone or tablet is not in his hand, he is either flicking through cards on his Moto 360 (2015) or typing away on the Microsoft Surface Book. Justin is patiently waiting for the day that Google replicates the Galaxy Nexus with modern day specifications.